Ship-armor.



J. H. SMITH.

SHIP ARMOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15. I917.

- WITNESSES:

A TTORNE V Patented fiept. 4, 191?.

'J'OHN H. SMITH, 0]? LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SHIP-ARMOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ship-Armor, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ship armor and more particularlyto-protection against torpedoes; and the objects ofmy improvements are,to cause the torpedo to be exploded at a suitable distance before itreaches the ship body at which it was directed, or hold it in the meshesofthe device so that it can not explode; to provide a protection whichwill not offer much resistance to the water; to provide a strongprotection, beneath the water line; the invention consisting in theconstruction combination and arrangement of devices hereafter more fullydescribed and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich- Figure 1 is a plan view of a ship with my device in placeprojecting sidewise off the material with a cross section as illustratedin Fig. 4c, the pointed edges 5 being the longitudinal edges projectingtoward the front and the rear minimizing the resistance of such barswhen forced through the Water. Another object of using flat" barsbetween the catching rails and the ship is to provide spring-likemembers between the shock-sustaining members and the ship, therebyreducing the shock on the ship, as the lon flat distance bars willnaturally ratherbend than cause damage to the sides of the ship. Outsideto the vertical rail 4, longitudinal Specification of Letters Patent.Application filed March 15, 1917. Serial No. 154,972.

ofa.

Patented Sept. 4L, 191W.

rails 6 are secured to form with the vertical rails 4 a steel frame orscreen leaving openings of about a foot square. These openings arenaturally of a; size to allow the head of a torpedo to enter and therebyget caught, which will cause a whirl in thewater plainly to be seen fromthe ship so that the torpedo may be taken out without danger to the shipat a suitable moment. If not caught thus in the free spaces, the torpedowill strikeon one of the rails 4 or 6, and'thereby explode. An explosioncaused in this manner will perhaps crush or bend several of the bars andrails, but could not possibly do much damage to the ship except shakingit by the commotion in the water, as the spring capacity'of the distancebars: reduce the shock to the ship.

The distance bars are secured to the ship projecting o the ship. Asconnection between the ship andthe distance bars on one end and on theother end of the distance bars connecting with the vertical rails, Iprefer to use angle bars .7, being disposed longitudinally to the ship.-

Having this described my invention, I claim 1. A ship armor of the typedescribed comprising interconnected .steel rails forming a frame orscreen of substantially square holes, and distance bars securedto theship sides with one end and with the other end to the frame or screen,forming spring-like members between the frame or screen and the ship.

' 2. A ship armorof the type described comprising a suitable number ofsteel rails horizontally surrounding the ship, a suitable number ofsteel rails interconnected with the first named rails crossing the firstnamed rails forming a steel frame or screen, and distance barsconnecting the frame or screen with the ship, the whole device beingmade of material with springing capacity.

3. A ship armor of the type described comprising a suitable number-ofdistance bars 4. A ship armor of the type described comprising asuitable number of distance bars connected to the sides of the shipprojecting ofl" the ship. and a frame or screen of cross 5 wise fiatbars secured to the farther ends of thedistance bars, the bars in thisdevice haying sharp edges projecting towztrd the front and rear of theship for reducing the Witnesses Copies of this patent may be obtainedfor five cents each, by addressing the Washington, I). 0.

resistance in the 'fltQl'. all substantially as JOHN H. SMITH.

CHAS. S. MCKELVEY, J. EVERETT BROWN.

Gominlssionet of Patents,

